cfp for FLAIRS special track : Categorization and Concept Representation : Models and Implications

[colette faucher]

===========================================================================
FLAIRS 2002
15th International Florida Artificial Intelligence Research Society
Conference
Pensacola, Florida
May 16-18, 2002
Special Track : "Categorization and Concept Representation :
Models and Implications"
===========================================================================


This track seeks to bring together researchers working on issues related to
categorization and concept representation in the areas of Artificial
Intelligence and Cognitive Psychology.

Topic Description
------------------

Categorization is the process by which distinct entities are treated as
equivalent. It is one of the most fundamental and pervasive cognitive
activities. It is fundamental because categorization allows us to understand
and make predictions about objects and events in our world. The problem of
understanding what criteria are used to group together entities in a same
category is indeed central in categorization. Though most works in that
topic have proposed that perceptual or structural similarity is the "glue"
that binds objects of a same category, some psychologists have claimed that
similarity is insufficient to account for the acquisition and use of
categories and have proposed more abstract forms of criteria that make
categories coherent and give them a kind of homogeneity in terms of the
entities that belong to them.

The different new propositions psychologists have suggested are that objects
are grouped together because they facilitate a common goal or serve the same
function. Some categories are viewed as coherent because they rest on a
theory which explains the commonalities of their elements. Similarity and
goals, on one hand, and theories, on the other hand, have not been paid the
same attention in computational models of categorization. Similarity-based
models abound and the notion of categorization goals has also been exploited
in computational models. On the other hand, the notion of an underlying
theory that makes a category coherent just begins to be further analyzed and
specified.  New computational models of categorization reflecting this new
tendency are thus expected.

The representation of concepts that a categorization system generates is of
course intimately tied to the criteria this system uses to group entities
into categories, so along with new models of categorization, we expect to
see the emergence of new models of concept representation apart from the
classical ones deriving from the Aristotelician, the Prototypical and the
Exemplar Views. The representation of the entities to categorize plays also
an important part in the categorization process. In particular, the context
in which the entities occur may influence the way they are classified.

The purpose of this track is to bring fresh insights concerning a perhaps
revisited notion of similarity, the way goals of categorization influence
this process, how the notion of the theory of a concept can be formalized
and implemented in computational models of categorization and the
implications those elements may have on the representation of concepts.
The contributions to this track may be situated in the symbolic approach of
categorization or the connectionist one.

Contributions in the following sub-topics would be welcomed :
- Computational models of similarity,
- Computational models of theory-based categorization,
- Computational models of similarity-based categorization,
- Computational models of human categorization,
- Models of concept representation which are relevant as regards to the
process of categorization,
- Models of concept representation and elicitation,
- Formalization of the notion of theory which underlies a category,
- Formalization of the context of occurrence of the entities to categorize
and its influence on the categorization process.

This list is not exclusive provided that the contributions are relevant to
the definition of the track specified above.


Paper Review and Publication
------------------------------
Only full papers will be considered for the track. Submitted papers will be
reviewed by two program committee members. An author for an accepted paper
is expected to present the paper in the track. Papers accepted for the track
will be published in the FLAIRS 2002 Conference Proceedings.

The best papers will be invited for modification, extension and submission
to a special issue in an international AI journal.


Important dates
----------------
Paper Submission Deadline :            November 15, 2001
Notification of Acceptance-Rejection : January 10, 2002
Camera Ready Copy Due :                March 4, 2002
Journal Invitation :                   February 10, 2002
Journal Paper Due :                 May 10, 2002
Conference Dates :                  May 16-18, 2002


Program Committee
------------------

David W. Aha, Navy Center for Applied Research in AI, Washington, USA
Ralph Bergmann, University of Kaiserslautern, Germany
Max Bramer, University of Portsmouth, UK
Colette Faucher (Chair), University of Aix-Marseille III, France
Paolo Frasconi, University of Florence, Italy
Robert L. Goldstone, Indiana University, USA
James Hampton, City University, London, UK
David Leake, Indiana University, USA
Bradley C. Love, University of Texas, USA
Paul Mc Kevitt, University of Ulster, Northern Ireland
Ryszard S. Michalski, George Mason University, USA
Philip Resnik, University of Maryland, USA
Lance J. Rips, Northwestern University, USA
Steven A. Sloman, Brown University, USA


Paper Submission Information
-----------------------------
Authors must submit an electronic copy of their complete manuscript of no
more than 5 pages. All submissions must be original work.
The review will be blind. Author names and affiliations are to appear ONLY
on a separate cover page. The presenter (if different) from the first author
must be specified on that cover page. All appropriate contact information
must be mentioned for each author (e-mail, phone, fax, etc.).

Papers must be written using MS Word, RTF or PDF formats according to AAAI's
standard format for authors.
All submissions must be sent in electronic form to :
colette.faucher at iuspim.u-3mrs.fr and colette.faucher at wanadoo.fr

For any problem or question, please contact the chair track, Colette
Faucher, at : colette.faucher at iuspim.u-3mrs.fr or
colette.faucher at wanadoo.fr.

Track Website
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http://perso.wanadoo.fr/colette.faucher/categorization.html

FLAIRS 2002 Website
--------------------
http://altair.coginst.uwf.edu/~jkolen/Flairs2002/intro.php3